March 21: Project Management Expert Joe Perzel

Free public presentation will look at "soft side of project management."

Mankato, Minn. – Joe Perzel, a project management expert who is currently a senior project manager at Surescripts, a clinical health information network, will discuss the “soft side of project management” in a presentation from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21 in Room 201, Centennial Student Union at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Perzel’s presentation, free and open to the public, is titled “The Dark Arts of Project Management.” At 5:30 p.m., prior to Perzel’s presentation, there will be free pizza and an opportunity to network. Please RSVP for the dinner by sending an email in advance to pmswoutreach@pmi-mn.org.

Perzel will address how a project’s successful journey is not linear, clean, easy and cannot be forecast. A plan may show a flaw, fall behind schedule or budget, get amended or completely thrown out altogether. Perzel will discuss how to minimize these occurrences and survive a project.

In his presentation, Perzel will provide his take (sometimes controversial) on becoming a master magician. His presentation topics include “Winning at Politics”; “Controlling others through Influence”; “Communicate & Motivate”; and why you need to “Market the Project.”

Perzel has been in the information technology field since 1979, and his presentation is based on his career experiences. Perzel has spent more than 20 years focusing on project management in both a corporate and vendor capacity. He has worked on multi-year and multi-million dollar projects in both the commercial and public sectors.

In his career, Perzel has worked at Cargill; Thomson Reuters; International Multifoods; Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Insurers Association, Inc. (MWCIA); and was owner of JPerzel and Associates, a $5 million contract, permanent placement and managed-project company working with local fortune 1000 companies.

The event is sponsored by the Southwest Outreach Program, which is part of the Minnesota Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-MN). The mission of PMI-MN, according to its website at http://www.pmi-mn.org/ is to provide value to members and the community through opportunities for career development and to advocate the advancement of the project management profession and its disciplines.

The Southwest Outreach Program began in 2012 with four outreach sessions at Minnesota State Mankato. In 2013, there are also four outreach sessions scheduled (all at Minnesota State Mankato). Dates include March 21 (featuring Perzel’s presentation); April 21; Sept. 19; and Nov. 14.

For more information on the Southwest Outreach Program, please contact program manager Mohamed Diab, an assistant professor in the Construction Management Department in Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology. Diab can be reached by phone at 507-389-2114 or by email at mohamed.diab@mnsu.edu.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,413 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 31 state institutions.